Sean C. Morgan
The Community Health Improvement Partnership is planning a summit on Sept. 15 to conclude a process started last year.
The summit will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Lebanon in the annex behind the new Linn-Benton Community College building.
The CHIP program, sponsored by Samaritan Health Services, recruited partners in east Linn County to interview ?key informants? and learn about health care in the area, Coordinator Becki Knoblock said. It is kind of like Samaritan asking, ?How are we doing? What can be done to improve health care? What?s missing??
Interviews included a ?forced-choice matrix,? where persons were asked to choose between services at the expense of other service areas.
A visioning group met in February, Knobloch said. Participants helped prioritize seven issue areas, affordable health, health education, mental health, prevention, teen health, transportation and urgent care.
Partners joined teams to address each area, defining problems and finding solutions.
The first list of recommendations was submitted to partners in August. A final list of recommendations will be submitted at the summit, where Samaritan officials will be available to listen.
Through this process, Knobloch hopes Samaritan will help find ways to fund the various recommendations.
Knobloch met with one of the issue groups on Thursday, an extension of the prevention solution team. That team is working locally to on ways to improve prevention efforts through physical activity and nutrition.
?We think we are at the point in the CHIP process where we need to get it community specific,? Knobloch said.
To that end, the group began discussing plans for a ?Walk to School? program for Oct. 6 if possible.
Corvallis schools have a similar program in place each Wednesday, but it?s not just the schools. The Corvallis program also encourages people to walk to work.
?This can be a kick-off activity for a whole exercise program,? Elena Barton, School District 55 student services director, said.
The program is directly aimed at countering a population, including children, that is growing heavier. In it, volunteers meet up with others and are assigned to a specific route. They pick up children as they walk along the route.
The committee was unable to select a school Thursday until members could talk to school principals. The committee will meet again Thursday to further plan the effort after having an opportunity to talk to principals.
?I would think that all of the schools could do something on Oct. 6,? Barton said. If walking to school won?t work, the program might take schools out to walk the trail around Foster Lake, for example.